


The Comfort of Warmth

by Skepsis_Ree



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 06:55:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23347291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skepsis_Ree/pseuds/Skepsis_Ree
Summary: Told from Lio's perspective. He really just needs some comfort after losing his Burnish identity. I think we can all relate to a feeling of being lost and uncertain and needing comfort from someone or something.A sad, but a comforting little story for Lio seeking comfort in the most basic human way from Galo.  I felt like I needed to mentally bridge how Lio would feel after his identity changes and why he would turn to Galo so quickly. It makes sense to me like this.I'll defiantly be writing more romance/nsfw for these two in the future.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 2
Kudos: 132





	The Comfort of Warmth

He missed warmth. He missed the warmth of a broiling fire and the strings of heat that moved through his veins. He missed warmth the way someone would miss and brother or sister, a relative or a best friend. Someone that was missing, but not dead. No closure but separated none the less. He missed the comfort, the companionship of warmth. He had been bound to another soul his entire life and had thrived under its care despite the hardships. An outcast because of it; always comforted because of it, lonely and yet never alone. He had learned to guard his heart, to look to those that needed that comfort more than him. Saved lives. Made friends. Fought for a cause.  
He had freed that comfort, and now, as thanks, he was alone.

Lio brushed his fingers over the flame of the candle, feeling its heat blend up his fingers as he pulled away. He could feel the heat getting more unbearable; fire becoming something dangerous to his human skin. He still had a bit of that flame inside of him, a small thimble of fire that sat deep inside his chest. Many of his friends (brothers and sisters) had already lost their flame and Lio was sure it would happen for him soon as well. He was happy, overall, but could not shake the overwhelming loneliness that shrouded him. He had lost so much.

There was a clattering from the hallway and Lio turned his attention towards the noise. It took effort not to jump up in his seat, be ready for an infiltration. Fighting was over now, and he needn’t worry, but instincts that he had built over the years to keep him and his kind alive were hard to do away with.

He watched as the doorway filled with puffy white sheeting, the mass struggling to get through the doorframe. Lio sat, perplexed as the comforter pushed through the door—much grunting and groaning to follow it. A flash of blue and he could see Galo carrying an armful of blankets and futons, much more than he should be carrying.

Lio turned, blowing out the candle and watching the curl of smoke carefully. He felt nothing for it, and that saddened him.

He stood and walked over to Galo, pulling some of the loose pillows and blankets from his arms.

“Lio?” The man asked, turning with effort as he carried the stack. He couldn’t get a full view of Lio unless he turned completely sideways.

Lio was sure he answered, but he couldn’t say what. Instead, he walked the bedding over to the far side of the room and helping to set up the futons. Many of them were bunking in the Firehouse for the next few days—maybe even weeks—with so many displaced during the fight. The Firehouse had been nice enough to allot some of their small apartments to instead fit the dozens of refugees that had once been slaves to Kray.

Galo was talking to him about the generosity of the people; about how so many of them were donating extra bedding and the likes for the Burnish. Joking now that they should really stop using that word. Lio didn’t want to give it up… yet.

Galo’s chatter: equal parts comforting and annoying was going unanswered and he seemed to catch the meaning well enough. He strung the one-sided conversation along, Lio obeying but lost in his own thoughts, his own drudgery. They slowly filtered people in, Lio himself ready to lay down and sleep for the night in this very room. He was used to sleeping in large groups and the half dozen people crammed into the space didn’t make him uncomfortable. Meis and Gueira were sleeping in the same room, having gotten examined by medical professionals and deemed healthy. They were rough off and Lio could see how tired they were when they came into the room, ready to sleep fourteen hours straight. He helped everyone find their beds and it was quiet soon after, Lio sitting on his own futon as he looked out onto the dark city.

He felt so lonely… so cold.

Lio rose, pushing his hair out of his eyes as he tiptoed across the silent room. It was peaceful here and he glanced carefully at all the sleeping occupants. They were all dead asleep, exhaustion evident as many of them softly snored. Lio himself couldn’t sleep, not like this. The sound didn’t bother him, the space or company, but he just couldn’t sleep like this.

He quietly stepped out the door, closing it as gingerly as he could manage and padded down the well lite hallway. He wore what clothes were given to him to sleep in: an oversized white shirt with the Firehouse’s name on the chest and black shorts. The shorts fit loosely, and he was sure they belonged to one of the women at the hall. He didn’t care, it was comfort and he was tired of sleeping in sweaty leather clothes. He had relished in the shower he had earlier, his hair still damp as he walked passed several doors.

He tried to be as quiet as possible as he creaked one of the doors open, finding the cramped room he sought. It was hardly large enough to hold a single mattress bed, its occupant curled up and facing the wall. One of the private rooms belonging to the firefighters, belonging to Galo.

Lio shut the door quietly as he let himself in, standing there a moment to gauge if Galo was asleep or not. He didn’t care either way, but he suddenly felt like a child again as he stood in the darkness staring at the bundled form on the bed. He urged himself to step forwards, finally doing so as he padded to the bedside and sat on the edge of the bed.

The mattress creaked and Lio waited for Galo to move. He didn’t, but Lio could feel that he was awake. Somehow, he knew that the man wouldn’t be such a peaceful sleeper.

Lio sat there for a long moment, fingers folded together in his lap as he sat in the quiet room. There was a window on the wall the bed was pressed against letting in the soft blue glow of the moon and Lio could see the stretch of orange light from the hallway seeping under the door. Occasionally he saw a shadow pass, walking to some other room far down the hallway and away. He sat there, quiet, not sure what to say as he felt his body ache with loneliness. He didn’t know why Galo felt so important to turn to, why he was so desperately drawn to just be there with him. Comfort through trauma? He couldn’t say. They had bonded over the last several hours and days, and for some reason, it felt as if that thimble in his soul that was drying up was connected to Galo Thymos. He had saved his life after all.

“Galo?” Lio finally asked, his voice quiet. He was having a hard time forcing the sound from his throat as if he had lost the ability to regulate the volume.

Galo didn’t answer. He didn’t stir and Lio had no visual proof that the man was awake, but he had to believe he was. He needed the company.

“Thank you for helping me,” Lio said, tucking his knees up towards his chest as he perched on the edge of the bed. It wasn’t what he wanted to be saying, but it felt like a natural segue into what needed to escape his chest. “I wouldn’t have been able to save the Burnish without you.” He sighed, resting his cheek on his knees.

“I…” his voice was so quiet still as if he was desperately trying to talk underwater. As if he was putting all of his efforts into just speaking and still it wasn’t enough to make the words. “Everything feels different now.” He found himself saying, feeling a smile spread across his lips. The action felt sad, however; so much relief and so much pain all leaking into that smile.

“Everything is different… I, I’m not sure what to do now.” He admitted, swallowing hard as he felt that thimble quiver inside of him. “With the Brunish gone, the city together… Kray gone…” he felt Galo stir with that, shifting slightly on the old mattress. He continued.  
“I don’t know where we’ll go… what I’m supposed to do now that everything is different.” He hugged his knees, feeling his throat clog up as he tried to push the words out. “It feels… it just feels like… everything is so strange.” Lio lifted his head, looking at his own hand, the little scars evident in the moonlight.

“I’m so different now.” He swallowed, feeling the emotions tumble inside of him. Galo shifted on the bed again, but Lio didn’t dare look. “I’m just a person, and I’ve been fighting to feel like that for so long, but… it feels so different.” Galo sat up, and Lio swallowed.  
“I feel so cold,” Lio admitted, feeling the tears swelling and rolling down his cheeks as he stared at his fingers. He was cold. He was so cold. He turned to look at Galo, the man serious in the darkness, eyes blazing somehow.  
And Galo reached for him, wrapping powerful arms around him as he pulled Lio to his chest. Holding the Burnish there. Just holding him.

Lio cried, stuffing his face against the man’s shoulder as he huffed heavy tears, feeling weak and tired and so lonely. He had never felt so hollow in his life and he didn’t know how to describe it. He had lost a part of himself, a part that had brought so much comfort in uncertainty and he didn’t know what to do. It was so cold.

Galo held him close, lifting the covers and wrapping it around Lio in the little bed. The comfort superficial but soothing none the less. The man holding him, creating so much warmth as Lio mourned his loss; mourned the changing flow of his life. This would pass. He knew this would pass; the same way any upheaval would, but for now, he mourned. And Galo seemed to understand. He seemed to understand what this loss was even though he had never felt that fire himself. Not the way Lio had.

They stayed like that, Lio eventually letting his tears stop as he stayed pressed up against the other’s chest, needing so badly to stay right there. He had never had this kind of comfort in his life and he hadn’t realized how desperately he had needed it. He had always been the ‘Boss’, the one in charge, the one that had to stay strong for everyone else and now… completing his goal he needed the comfort more than ever. He couldn’t even fathom crying like this the day before. His tears before had been all rage. All anger and sorrow mixed together. But now… now it was just loss.

Galo didn’t seem to mind or care, eventually lowering them both down onto the bed so he could still hold Lio in his arms. It was peaceful there and Lio kept himself crammed against the other’s chest, not caring that his feet were hanging off the side of the bed. The mattress was too small for two. He didn’t care about that, but he was aware that he suddenly felt exhausted. Eyes stinging from tears and throat caught somewhere between calm and sorrow he could feel himself relaxing into the space. He was tired… so tired… and no longer cold.

Lio closed his eyes hands tucked up against Galo’s chest as he breathed in the warmth allowed to him. Cheeks still damp and throat tight, he concentrated on that thimble in his chest and the warmth around him… and slept.

**Author's Note:**

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